For Anna and John Dennis the 2013 winter wheat crop promised to be a "bin-buster".

"We were set for what my husband believed was going to be the harvest of a lifetime - maybe as much as 7.5 tonnes to the hectare," Anna said.

"But six weeks ago we had frost, some people further west have had hail, and then we had huge rainfall event.

"It's now a very ordinary harvest and it's going to be a difficult time at the silo."

The Dennis farm is 1,450 hectares, just west of Wagga Wagga in the NSW Riverina.

Two-thirds of it is given over to crops - wheat and canola this season.

"The quality and the yields will be well down - maybe we'll end up feeding some of the wheat to our prime lambs to cut our losses," Mrs Dennis said.

But that's not the only cloud on the horizon.

Fears US agri-businesses will dominate Australian grain trading

Anna Dennis is appalled that the Federal Government is even considering allowing giant US agri-business, Archer Daniels Midland, to buy Australia's largest grain handler Graincorp - a $3.4 billion deal which requires approval by the Treasurer and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

"They have done some pretty ordinary things in the US and yet there is a chance they'll be allowed in here to run a very large proportion of our grain trading," she said.

"That is a huge worry and I can't believe our government could consider doing that."

"In April ADM admitted it had made provision for $US24 million in case it's fined for its corporate behaviour and now its been revealed this has been increased by another $US30 million."

Anna Dennis says the other significant issues for her about handing over control of Graincorp to ADM relate to guaranteeing access to east coast ports and up-country storage and handling infrastructure.

"A company based in America really isn't going to give a damn about closing a small silo in a small village here in the bush that forces local farmers to drive another 50 kilometres to deliver their grain," she said.

As for whether Treasurer Joe Hockey needs more time to consider the possible impact of the sale on the industry, Anna Dennis is blunt.

"No he doesn't need any more time. He should just make a decision. No - don't let them sell Graincorp."

Australian agriculture needs "new blood"

But other growers say if that happens and foreign investment and ownership is blocked, all sorts of agri-businesses will be adversely affected.

Angus Metcalfe, who is in the middle of harvesting 500 hectares of wheat and canola on his place on the NSW South West Slopes near Young says Australian agriculture needs "new blood" in the form of foreign investment.

"Australian ag[riculture] is very debt-laden, and so to get foreign investment in has to be a positive thing, " Mr Metcalfe said.

He says there's just been no appetite among potential Australian investors for agricultural assets.

"We need the depth of wealth management from other countries to come in and support our infrastructure and to help us grow," he said.

He's convinced the issue about the ADM deal shouldn't be so much about foreign investment but making grain handling and storage cheaper and more competitive.

Scare-mongering warning over foreign ownership

A report by the agricultural think-tank The Australian Farm Institute found that some growers were paying up to a third of the value of their wheat just getting it to port.

"All of us just want to deliver our products at a world competitive price," he said.